Konoha's Fire
by Artehc8
Summary: "Don't judge a book by its cover as deception is ninja's number one code.", "The Enemy of our enemy is our friend.", "Shinobi fights in the shadow", "Always watch your back; Always be two steps ahead of the enemy", etc. Can these rules be applied in social life? Sometimes peace can be made by verbal agreement. **DISCONTINUED**
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto-sensei does.

A/N: Hello! This is my first time writing Naruto fanfic. I've read quite a lot of stories, so I'm very excited that I can share my own imagination to you guys too. By the way, English isn't my first language, so there will be grammar or vocab errors. I hope you guys enjoy this story. Let's start, shall we?

"Rasengan" - Speaking

 _"Rasengan"_ \- Thinking

 **"Rasengan"** \- Bijuu speaking

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

Fire was providing light and warmth at night in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. A few tents were set up there to give temporary shelters for a group of bandits after a long day of typical banditry. Robbing money, goods, and valuables from a small village in the northern part of the land of fire were being conducted for a couple of days by this newly assembled bandits. They were mostly Genin or low-level Chunin turned bandits.

A medium sized ex-Chunin was sitting on a log in front of the crackling fire. It was near the end of his turn of keeping watch over the night. " _Doing this is much better than going on some stupid dangerous missions. Why would I want to risk my life if I can get more from robbing in such a short time?"_ His thought was interrupted by his fellow comrade coming to switch turn with him to keep watch.

"Hey, Hanji. Your turn's over. Go to your tent and get some rest. Tomorrow we are gonna go to another small village to rob some more goods." said a black short hair man after coming out of his tent.

"Alright, Kanita. Let me go piss first. Been sitting here for hours already." said Hanji before he walked a small distance away behind his tent. A few minutes later, he returned back to his place. In his mind, there were many things that he planned to do with those goods that he robbed; however one turn of event never actually appeared in his mind. He came back to see a horrible sight that he'd wish to never see again. It would haunt him every night, if he survived at all, as it was too disgusting and dreadful to forget.

In front of him, there was the body of Kanita, a head-less one, lying on the ground flooded by his pool of blood. Hanji looked around to see some of the tents were tainted red with fresh blood while the others had steam flew up the air. To say he was slightly shocked was an extreme understatement. Shivers covered all over the ex-chunin's body as he started to shake tremendously at the same time when fear of death invaded his mind. Suddenly, Hanji felt a terrible burn on the inside before looking down to see a hand which glowed bright orange had pushed its way through his heart out of his chest, like a hot knife through butter. He felt like it was absorbing his life force which was true because heat began to leave his body. On his last breath, he saw the masked face of his murderer and light blue ocean eyes through the holes on it. His body fell lifelessly on the ground. Eventually, there were no more bandits left in the small clearing, except the murderers of course, but desiccated corpses.

Once pulling his hand out of his victim, the killer then cleaned himself off the blood and muttered to himself, "No matter how many times I used that jutsu, I always feel sick in the stomach." During the time being, another masked shinobi went to collect the stolen valuables then seal into scrolls before putting them in his vest pockets.

"You have to get used to that, Fox." said the shinobi with the scrolls, finished with an eye smile which was obviously hidden behind his mask by the way.

The now identified as 'Fox' shinobi huffed and shot back, "Easier said than done, Captain. You are already used to this." The Dog masked figure just shrugged and jumped through the forest in the direction of the village hidden in the leaf, followed closely by the 'Fox'.

* * *

Back in the center of Konohagakure no Sato, the fire shadow that was considered one of the most powerful shinobi, hailed as "God of Shinobi, was currently sitting behind his desk in his office, doing paperwork that dealt with matters around the whole village. Sarutobi Hiruzen, or the Professor, was an old man with dark brown eyes, grey hair and goatee. His face was gaunter, and he had wrinkles. Noticeably, there was a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye which stretched out into his face until they reached his cheeks. He usually wore his official Hokage attire – the customary hat and haori with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash. As he was doing his work, two familiar chakra signatures flickered in front of him. Hiruzen looked up to see a fox-masked and a dog-masked ANBU kneeling on one knee, indicating the assigned mission was done.

The two ANBU wore the standard uniform, which consist of black clothing, a grey flak jacket, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals with spikes for travelling into mountainous regions, three ninja pouches on their back-waist and a signature spiral tattoo on their shoulder. They each had a sword strapped to their backs. But the significant difference between them was that 'Dog' was a tall, slightly slender, but muscle toned man who had silver, gravity defying hair while 'Fox' was shorter and had sun-kissed blond hair with a light ocean blue pair of eyes. This signified that 'Fox' was definitely younger than his partner.

"Report." commanded the Sandaime.

"Mission accomplished, Hokage-sama. After arriving at the destination…" accordingly explained the older ANBU the event happened hours ago.

"Good job, Dog, Fox. Your teamwork is exceptionally brilliant. I sure don't expect nothing less from my two elite personal ANBU." congratulated Sandaime while glancing at 'Fox' with a proud smile on his face.

"It was nothing, Hokage-sama. Apparently, they were weaker than we anticipated." replied 'Dog' humbly before bowing respectfully, of which action was mimicked by his partner.

"I know my subordinates' abilities clearly, so you should accept the praise. 'Fox', I want to have another word with you. 'Dog' you are dismissed." With that, the squad leader left after bowing once again to his Kage, leaving 'Fox' alone with their leader.

"What is it that you want to tell me, Hokage-sama?" asked curiously the blond ANBU.

"You can remove your mask now, Uzumaki Naruto." Hiruzen spoke softly towards his surrogate grandson. Naruto obeyed by taking off his mask, revealing his young face, but surprisingly there was no baby fat considering his young age as the result of extreme training in the special squads. The three whiskered marks on each of his cheeks also helped differentiating him from other people. The aged Hokage walked from behind his desk to stand in front of the young boy. He then hugged his grandson, whose action was reciprocated making the old man smiled happily once again. He remembered the time when young Naruto first learned how to walk, how to throw shuriken, learned his first jutsu, and found out about his Kekkei Genkai etc. Especially when Naruto successfully created his very first original jutsu, he ran around the Sarutobi clan's compound yelling 'I'm so awesome!' for a whole day. " _I'm certain that your parents are very proud of you if they see what you've achieved, Naruto."_

The Sarutobi clan willingly adopted Naruto ever since that incident of the Kyuubi's attack. The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, and many other shinobi sacrificed their lives to stop the tailed beast from destroying their home village; thus preventing additional death in both shinobi and civilians' populace. The Yondaime performed a sealing kinjutsu to seal off half of the Kyuubi's chakra in himself, bringing it with him into the stomach of the Shinigami. His wife suffered heavy stress after giving birth and being forcefully extracted the bijuu from her seal, which ultimately killed her. Minato managed to seal the Yang half of Kyuubi's chakra into his own son as he hoped that Naruto would be able to continue his dream with the aid of the demon's power. He believed that Naruto was the child of prophecy whom Jiraiya, the toad sage, told him about. After arriving at the sealing sight, Sarutobi Hiruzen took the new born child and promised the young one's parents that he would raise and protect Naruto by whatever means possible as a show of gratitude and respect for the necessary sacrifices of his fellow shinobi.

"You have come so far, my boy. I am very proud to be your grandfather right now, so do your parents to have you as their son." said Hiruzen with the affectionate tone that grandfather would lovingly say to his grandson. Naruto smiled brightly at the praise he received. Even if he had become quite battle-hardened, he was still a young boy who would still want acknowledgement for what he did.

"Thank you, Jiji. I won't let you down. I will become the strongest shinobi so that I can protect my precious people like you and Kakashi-niisan and many others." replied our favorite brave blond with fire of determination in his eyes.

"I believe you will. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean that you should focus all of your time to train. Naruto-kun, you are still 11 years old. Yes, I admit that you are more mature than most kids of your age, but I want you to have a more pleasant childhood." said the old Hokage with a slight frown on his face.

Ever since Naruto joined the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai, he gradually lost his cheerful attitude and started to focus more and more on his career without taking any break. This looked good on the record, but if he kept it up any longer, one day he would surely lose it. The Hokage noticed this, however, and tried to find ways to help Naruto.

"But I do have friends, Jiji. Aren't those ANBU-san counted in?" asked Naruto with confusion on why his Jiji suddenly talked about his current way of childhood.

"Yes, they are acquainted with you, but you need people your age around you. I want you to have fun, Naruto-kun. That's why I ask you to be here to discuss with what I want you to do from now on. Tomorrow is the first day of the final year for the academy class. I want to enroll you in that class for you to spend some quality time with kids among your age." suggested the Sandaime.

"Are you saying that you are going to demote me to Genin?!" asked the blond with a frown on his face after hearing that.

"No! Naruto-kun, I don't mean like that. You know, I believe in your ability and care about you. The reason behind my decision is I don't want you to walk the similar path of your niisan, Kakashi. You see, he suffered mental breakdown after the death of his teammates and your father." he paused a little bit as he thought of his deceased successor, Namikaze Minato.

"He still continued on his ANBU career which didn't make things any better until he met you, Naruto-kun. Kakashi didn't have a pleasant childhood as he was growing up during time of war, while you are in the time of peace. There's no reason to waste such precious time when you are still young. Plus, you can still train during your free time from the academy as I'm sure you won't have any trouble with the school work." said Hiruzen convincingly.

"Oh… Then I guess it won't hurt to take a little break." Naruto gave a small smile to his surrogate grandfather, thankful of him for his care.

The grandfather figure grinned at his grandson by the idea of being able to save the young one's childhood. "Then I will arrange the file for you immediately. Alright, you can go get some rest now, my boy." replied as he went back to prepare the paperwork. "Oh, and don't forget to make some friends. You don't have to make a lot of friends, just a few good ones is perfect." continued the old man before Naruto left.

"Yes, I will, Jiji. Thank you for the advice! See ya around!" Naruto grinned back at Hiruzen before he walked out of the Hokage office.

* * *

While making his way through the busy street, he was thinking about what to do tomorrow. Then a sound from inside his head made itself known, **"The old man is right, kit. As much as I enjoy seeing my jailer spilt blood, you should stick around people your age. Seeing those weirdoes in the ANBU headquarter daily has become boring."** said Naruto's tenant. Naruto and Kyuubi seemed to be on the neutral side with each other. While Kurama would ignore and scare the blond every now and then, he still had some respect for the kid, as going through killing and seeing blood since such young age was enough to show that he was not weak.

"I don't know, Kurama. I pretty much haven't talked to any kids besides Konohamaru." replied Naruto. A few seconds of silence went by. "Kurama? You there? … Kurama?" Still no answer from the powerful bijuu.

Naruto face vaulted and stood still for a few seconds, attracting some people to look at him strangely. "Figured…" he sighed at the usual action from his tenant. Their conversation never lasted longer than a minute.

" **You have no reason to be worry about such thing. Why should you care about what people think of you?"** casually replied Kurama. This time it was Naruto who didn't answer, as he was considering Kurama's words. A moment later, he arrived at Sarutobi clan's compound after checking in at ANBU headquarter. He then greeted members in the house as they all had dinner together. Naruto excused himself to his room to take some rest after a long trip back nonstop. One last thought before sleep began to envelope him, " _I hope everything will be interesting tomorrow. Oh well, Jiji told me to have fun, so I guess I should listen to him then."_

* * *

What will his decision affect his life later on? Let's find out in the next chapter.

That's it for this new story. What do you think? Leave a comment or review on this. I welcome every opinion from you guys. See ya next time! Peace!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Kishimoto-sensei didn't notice me, so I don't own Naruto. *sad face*

A/N: Hey! Welcome to the second installment of my story. There will be a time skip in this chapter as I don't want to describe everyday action for the whole year at the academy. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **[Teet teet teet…]**

An alerting clock signaled the start of a new day. 5am was the daily wake up time for Naruto and all of the ANBU squads. Stretching his body a bit, he plopped down his bed and went to take a shower. " _The academy won't start until 7, so I have about 2 hours to kill. Might as well say goodbye to my weird colleagues."_ he said before putting on a white T-shirt with a swirl symbol on his chest, paired with grey ANBU pants and a pair of blue shinobi sandals. Ready to go, he fixed himself a toast and a glass of milk before walking to the Hokage tower where ANBU HQ was located at. Along the street, the blond noticed that only a few stores had opened this early in the morning. As usual, the people greeted him 'good morning' and he waved back politely. This led to the second train of thought in Naruto's mind already for the past weeks.

Since the Sandaime Hokage took him in after just hours he was born, Naruto's identity had been well kept-hidden; otherwise he wouldn't have received such kindness. The villagers would have shunned him away, or maybe even tried to ruin his life in any way possible if they had known that Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto. His thought was cut short when he bumped into Hatake Kakashi, his former ANBU captain and his niisan. The fact that he didn't sense the silver haired man coming, he could never know. ANBU were always excellent in stealth, plus the young blond was even paying attention to his surrounding at the moment too. He still got some improvement to do.

"Ohayou (Good morning), Naruto. You seemed to be contemplating about something. What is it about?" asked Kakashi as he had rarely seen his little brother like that.

"Ah, ohayou niisan. It was nothing concerning. I got lost on the road of life, I guess." Naruto replied sheepishly while scratching his head. Suddenly, he was pulled into the death-gripped hug from the older man in front of him. Kakashi was crying anime tears while muttering something about Minato sensei's son made him proud. Naruto tried to escape the grip, but failed horribly. " _Ugh! Why did I say that?!"_

A minute later, both ANBU arrived at their HQ and walked in to see several ANBU looking at them. Then one Boar masked exploded at the two's tardiness, "Why are you late again, Kakashi-senpai? Now you've brought Naruto down with you too!"

"Mah, mah, Tenzo. We saw a black cat ran across our path while we were on our way here."

"So we decided to take the long way around the village to escape bad luck."

"Yes, then we met an old lady having difficulty carrying her groceries."

"-so we helped her get to her home and came here after that."

Then out of nowhere, there was a gentle breeze, followed by a complete silence in the room. Everyone was shocked to hear the two shared their part of their explanation with no sign of stuttering and excellent teamwork.

"Alright, that's it! **Mokuton: -!** " A small earthquake occurred in the HQ as branches of tree grew out from the ground destroying everything within the small area.

* * *

"I guess you guys already knew about my retirement then." said Naruto after the whole little incident was over and other ANBUs went back to get ready for their own missions.

A cat-masked ANBU stood in front of him, then put her hands on his shoulders. "Yes we were informed from Hokage-sama. And I think you make the right decision. Truthfully, you should have friends, especially those around your age, Naruto-kun. Maybe you can find a girl you like as well." giggled the cat ANBU after she saw the blond blushed at the last sentence.

"Yes, Naruto! Then you and her can…" Kakashi giggled perversely as he remembered a scene from his orange book before getting smacked in the back of his head, courtesy of the purple haired Kunoichi.

"I hope so, Yuugao-neechan." laughed Naruto amusedly at his sibling figures' interaction. " _I'm so gonna miss this."_ Even though ANBU are supposed to be elite ninjas who did a stressful amount of dangerous missions, they still found their unique way on how to relax. For example, Kakashi would read his porn book in public while Yuugao would spend her free time with her best friends, Mitarashi Anko and Yuuhi Kurenai, and her long-time boyfriend, Gekko Hayate. Some played dress-up with their pets. Wait what?

Tenzo also joined in for Naruto's support in his decision to spend time his childhood the way normal children would. "Just don't forget about us, little brother. Come visit, ok?"

"Sure I will drop by sometimes! Looks like I should get going now. Bye guys!" said Naruto after noticing it was nearly time for the class to start.

* * *

After receiving good luck wishes from his former colleagues and a hug from his sister, Naruto continued his way to the place where he would be spending one year with the young ninjas-in-training. And hopefully, he could build up some friendship as well. A short walk, he arrived at the building. It was quite large and was comprised of several buildings which were erected over time. The building could be identified by the tree in front of it which had a swing on it and more so, by the giant sign with the kanji for **Fire** (火) on it. "Ok here we go!" mumbled to himself before entering. He walked up to the second floor, and to his right he saw a sign 'Fourth year' indicating that he would take his class in that room. He knocked the door thrice, then entered the classroom after hearing 'Enter' as an answer. The room was huge. There were 3 long rows of tables and a wide black board. In front of the blackboard was a podium, situated far from the students' desks and put in a position where the teacher could view everyone at once.

The blond shinobi greeted his Chuunin instructor. "Good morning, sir. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I was told that I would be participating in this class this year." bowing at his soon-to-be instructor.

The said man looked up from his board after hearing someone addressing him, "Ah, yes. I've been expecting you. Hokage-sama informed me that there will be a new student joining my class. I'm Umino Iruka. You were right on time." Iruka was a man of average height and build. He had black hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. "I hope you aren't the type to slack off as I won't tolerate laziness from my students." said the scarred Chuunin, showing that he was serious with his job.

"You need not worry, Iruka-sensei. I can assure you that I respect punctuality as much as you do." making Iruka smiled at the statement. He was quite strict about the subject.

"Okay then. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" Both walked up to the middle of the room to see the already filled room was full of chit-chatting noise between the students. After gaining attention of the thirty something young ones, Iruka began to give an announcement. "Class, I would like to inform you all that there is a new student will be joining us this year. If you may, Naruto." Received a nod the said blond before making way for him.

"Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you all. I hope we will enjoy each other's presence" He gave a big smile to those in front of him, earning quite a few blushes from the girls' side. After that his instructor told him to find a seat, so he made his way to the third table on the right row near a window.

Surprisingly, he chose to sit next to the class' most popular boy among the girls. That boy had onyx eyes and a black colored duck-ass like hair. His name was Uchiha Sasuke, the last loyal Uchiha after the clan's massacre a couple years ago. He seemed to look intensely at something outside through the window.

"Hi, can I sit next to you?" asked Naruto.

He took a glance at the person asking him. "Hn" was his answer before turning back to the thing that somehow got his attention. Naruto sat down at his chosen seat.

While Iruka was calling out names for daily attendance, the blonde decided to take a look around his room, checking out people who looked interesting enough for him to befriend. He noticed that most of the students were from civilian families. However, there were also a few who came from some of the most prominent clans in Konoha. On his left side, there were two girls, or more like fan girls, as he noticed they had stars in their eyes when they looked at the boy next to him.

The first one was a pink hair girl with large green eyes and fair skin. She wore a red qipao dress with white circular design and a zipper, tight dark green bike shorts. Her name was Haruno Sakura.

The second was a long pale blonde hair girl with blue eyes. Her hair was pulled in a high ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a short purple vest like blouse, a purple apron skirt and a pair of purple and white elbow warmers on both hands. Her name was Yamanaka Ino from Yamanaka clan. Both girl were muttering something about how cool their Sasuke-kun was. Naruto ignored it as he continued looking around.

Sitting in front of him were two boys with completely different personalities from each other. That was so obvious as one was bragging loudly about him being an alpha and beating a certain duck-ass haired boy in a spar soon while the other one was sitting silently in a stoic manner.

The loud-mouthed boy was from Inuzuka clan if a small white dog sitting on his head and red fang markings on his cheeks were any indication. His name was Inuzuka Kiba. He had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils and pronounced canine teeth. He wore dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head.

Next to him was the stoic fair skinned boy with dark bushy brown hair. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket, with high upturned collar. Aburame Shino was his name, meaning he's from the Aburame clan because his appearance and attire were closely similar to those Aburame members.

Naruto turned back to see another two boys. He instantly recognized them as their behaviors were blatantly obvious that everyone would know which clan they were from. The currently sleeping boy has shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. He wore a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it.

And a rather large boy who was eating his chips was apparently from Akimichi clan, which was known for their big appetite and large build. He's Akimichi Choji. Chōji has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and like the rest of his clan, he has a more robust physique. He wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved, green haori, over a light-green shirt with his clan's obligatory kanji for "food" on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages.

After counting out all of the future heir and heiress of the prominent clans, except Sakura, Naruto sensed someone was staring at him, but not in a harmful way, more like a curious stare. He turned to his left side again, to a table in front of the two daydreaming girls' and saw the source of his discomfort. A girl who was looking at him had a pair of pale lavender eyes, indicating her as a Hyuuga clan's member. Her hair was in a short, levelled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants. When their eyes made contact, she instantly looked away with a blush on her face, and poked her forefingers together. He made a guess that the girl was the heiress of the said clan as he remembered too well of her shy personality which was quite the hot topic within her clan as well as many important clan heads. Hyuuga Hinata was her name.

Naruto knew all these information from his reading about the various clans in Konoha during his ANBU training. Plus, yesterday he heard that the mentioned above clans has sent their heir and heiress to ninja academy in the same generation. " _Hmm, this is not bad at all. It might be interesting with these guys. After all, I get to see how the new generation of Shinobi will perform."_ He turned his attention back to his class right when Iruka was explaining the curriculum for this year study. " _Alright! Time to blend in!"_ Naruto was sure that he would be having fun.

* * *

 **[Time skip]**

The sun was making itself known to the world as a new day arrived once again. Sunshine laid upon Konohagakure as merchants and shopkeepers were opening their stores and businesses. People were filling the busy street, doing their own daily activities. This seemed like a normal day, but for a few young ones, this day was important and exciting for them. Today was the day that the new Genins were to be divided into teams. One certain blonde ninja was making his way to the academy building to have his final day as an academy student. He would know whom he would be teamed up with, and work together in the future. As he was walking, he reminisced all the moments he had had during the past year. To say he was happy was a bit of an understatement.

In fact, he had the fun of his life. He managed to pick up some of his newly made friends' habits, like playing pranks, sparring, and most noticeably, running away from a bunch of fangirls. He had befriended all those who were from the big clans. Naruto became best friend with Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and unexpectedly Sasuke. However, in case Sasuke's case, they developed a friendly rivalry as the the black-haired Uchiha deemed Naruto as his equal in strength. During the spars and throwing projectiles exercises, both of them went toe to toe as they got equal points in those challenges. Of course, Naruto didn't go all out as he didn't want to blow his cover as a former ANBU.

Naruto and the boys spent their free time hanging out and training together and even cloud watching, much to a pine-apple hair Genin's happiness. The blonde's train of thought made a stop at the graduating exam. To Naruto's correct prediction, his overall score was the lowest as he only enrolled in at the last year of his class. No matter how high the score he got from the exam, he would still be the dead last as he got barely passable results for the first three years of the academy study. He didn't care about it one bit though. He had his own goal to complete, and he did it successfully.

Finally catching the sight of his surrounding, he made it to the front of his classroom door. Opening it to see the usual sight of the same activities that had been going on for the past year, he walked up to his friends, noticing them excited as well at the idea of becoming full-fledged ninja. Some decided to show their thrill quite loudly, while some kept it to themselves, but can still be seen if u looked closely.

"Yo guys! What's up?" asked the blonde.

"Hey, Naruto! We are gonna be a full time Shinobi now. I get to kick asses and come to princesses' rescue! Then we will fall for each other and-" Kiba boasted loudly as he couldn't contain his excitement while pumping his hand in the air, posing some kind of weird stance that reminded Naruto of a certain green spandex wearing Jounin.

"As if a loud-mouthed like you can do such things! Only Sasuke-kun will be able to kick asses." screeched the self-proclaimed Sasuke's number one fan, Sakura. She never threw that habit away.

"I'll show you, pinky!" Both of them started to throw retorts at each other, without thinking about their subject of argument covering his ears as he was sitting between them.

Meanwhile, the others just showed amusement at the scene in their own way. Shikamaru just scoffed and muttered 'Troublesome' while Ino smacked Shikamaru in his head after hearing the same word from the boy again and again. Chouji was chomping down his snacks as usual. Hinata just giggled at the whole situation while Shino was being the same stoic person he was, but you can hear he let out a silent laugh. Naruto shook his head and smiled at his friends' reactions. That was why he loved his friends so much. They seemed to make him smile and happy around them. " _Hehe I guess my decision was worth it. I wouldn't trade this for anything."_ thought Naruto before they heard the door opened to see their instructor walking in the room holding his forever existing board in his hand.

"Quiet down, guys! First of all, I'd like say that I'm so proud of you guys at this moment. You managed to prove yourself ready to be a ninja of this village. I wish the best of luck to you all in the future. Protect and fight back to back with your comrades on the field and you will succeed in whatever duties you are assigned to. Now let's get on with the team assessment, shall we? Team one will consist of…"

Iruka continued on giving out information on the newly assigned Genin team. The first six teams were all formed with civilian kids. "Team seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Suddenly, the pink hair kunoichi screeched something about 'true love prevails' while Ino hung her head down as both Sasuke and Naruto were not on her team. Hinata was disappointed as well because she couldn't be together with her crush now that they were on different team.

"Team eight will be Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata. Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team nine is still active. Team ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino. Jounin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. That is all. Your Jounin will come to pick you up soon. Alright, guys. From this moment on, you are the full-fledged ninja of the Leaf village. Take care and good luck on your career." said the scarred Chuunin before he left the room.

A small trickle of tear and a smile on his face was not missed by Naruto. Iruka was a nice man who had been taking good care of his students and teaching them as best as he could.

Several minutes later, several assigned Jounins came to pick up their teams one by one. All that was left was team seven. To say Sakura was fine having to wait an hour later than her friends was like saying that Shikamaru hated cloud watching. She was complaining loudly the whole time about a Jounin being lazy at his job, much to her two teammates' chagrin. Sasuke normally didn't care about it, as long as he got to get training with his sensei to become stronger, but this indeed frustrated him a little bit at how tardy his sensei was being. Meanwhile, Naruto was cursing his former captain as he was forced to listen to the loud complain from the girl.

Then as if on cue, the silver haired poked his head inside the class and said, "Team seven? Meet me upstairs in five minutes." Then he puffed out in a smoke, revealing he was using Shunshin. The three followed their sensei up to the roof of the building. They arrived to see the said Jounin was reading an orange book. Naruto was smirking at his brother figure's unchangeable habit while Sasuke was blushing a bit at the perverted book. Sakura had the worst as she yelled 'Pervert!' at Kakashi.

The Jounin took a full look at his team, then focusing at his favorite blonde. They stared at each other for a few seconds and nodded, as if they were having a conversation through their eyes. "Alright, why don't we start with introduction of ourselves? You can go first, pinky." Kakashi finally broke the ice as his other two students seemed about to lose their patience soon.

"Umm what should we talk about sensei?" asked Sakura which the three male face-vaulted at the question.

"Talk about your likes, dislikes, and goals. I'll go first then. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes aren't any of your concern. About my goals…hmm… I haven't thought much about it. You're next, pinky" eye-smiled the Jounin as he threw the jab at the girl.

There was a big tick on her head after hearing her nickname. She growled a little bit before beginning her introduction. "My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are… *giggles*. My dislikes are perverts, tardy people, and perverts! Anyway, my goal is…*giggles*" she glanced at Sasuke between her giggling, which made the said boy felt shiver on his body while Naruto look pitifully at his friend's fate.

"Ok. You're next, duck-ass boy"

Sasuke growled at the nickname as well before continue on, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are my friends and training. I have a lot of dislikes. And my goal was to kill a certain man, but now I think that it is pointless if I'm not strong enough, so I aim to become powerful and one day rebuild my clan." said the Uchiha with a venom at the ' _certain man'_ part.

 _"Hmm he seems not to prioritize killing his brother at the top for now. Maybe he can be brought back from the darkness"_ thought Kakashi before addressing the last member of the team to share his own information.

The blonde nodded and did as he was told. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are hanging out my friends, training, and reading. My dislikes are traitors, selfish people, and arrogance. My goal are to become strong to protect those are precious to me and to one day become the greatest Hokage ever." said Naruto with great passion.

 _"That's my otouto. Still as passionate as ever."_ Kakashi smiled proudly at the blonde speech.

"Okay now that the introduction was over with. Tomorrow we will have a small test to see if you are capable of becoming a ninja yet. Meet me at training ground 7 at 8am sharp-" getting cut mid-speech, Kakashi motioned at Sakura to ask her question.

"But Kakashi-sensei, we already had a test. Why do we need to do one more?"

"Well, those exams were just to sort out the weakest of the weak. Meanwhile, only the strong and capable ones can pass this test; hence the 66% failure rate. Those who failed are to be sent back to the academy." eye-smiled the silver haired Jounin as he saw the horrified look on Sakura. "If that is all, you are dismissed. Oh by the way, I suggest you don't eat breakfast tomorrow or you'll regret in doing so. Now then, off you go." Two of the team members were about go to their own places before Sakura decided to ask for Sasuke to have something to eat together. The Uchiha, of course, refused the offer and walked faster to escape from the girl.

The remaining of the team were having their discussion back on the roof.

"So you are intended to cover identity even if you are now having a team now too?"

"Yes, niisan. I don't want to reveal my identity yet, but I will if I deem the situation necessary to do so. So during the meantime, I want to lay low as much as possible."

"Hmm reasonable enough. But I think you should do it soon before things get too complicated. Anyway, I want you to know that I fully support every decision you make. I'm just glad that you are happy." putting his hands on the blonde's shoulders. Receiving a grateful nod from his brother, Kakashi led Naruto to grab some lunch while listening to what tales his young brother had to tell him. What he saw in the Hokage's office with the Hokage himself and several Jounin sensei of the interaction between the young Genin hours prior to their team's first meeting was not enough to fill his curiosity of what Naruto had been doing the past year. Tomorrow would be the day to see if team 7 could work together or not.

* * *

-Well, that is it for chapter two. I hope it was enjoyable enough. Leave comments and reviews on this one. See you guys next time! Peace!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I wish I own Naruto series.**

 **A/N:** Here is it, the Genin test. We finally get to see some action in this chapter. Yay! However, Naruto will continue to mask his true abilities, so he won't be having flashy fight or throwing jutsu at Kakashi at the moment, but he won't be completely blatant at his attacks either.

"Rasengan" - Speaking

 _"Rasengan"_ \- Thinking

 **" Rasengan" **\- Technique/Jutsu

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Standing in front of the Memorial Stone in training ground number three was none other than Hatake Kakashi, the former ANBU captain and the current team seven's Jounin sensei. The Memorial Stone was a monument listing all the ninja who died in service to their village, Konohagakure no Sato, which was why the silver haired man was seen there every morning. He spent much of his free time at the monument because his former comrades' name, Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin, and his sensei's name were engraved though was kind of special as he was joined by his little brother figure and the now Genin student, Naruto.

The blonde was looking at two specific names that belonged to his parents, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. Naruto still remembered the time when he was told of his parents' identities. His initial reaction to the revelation was pretty predictable. Having your father as the famous Yondaime Hokage who was hailed as 'The Yellow Flash of Konoha' was any child's dream and pride. Not to mention, having seen a picture of an extremely happy Minato and a healthy and pregnant Kushina reassured Naruto that he was not abandoned by his parents. He knew that they must have loved him so much. A sad smile showed itself across his face.

After he finished paying respect to his deceased beloved, he turned to his older companion and asked, "Are you gonna spend another 2 hours standing here again?" He received a nod as his answer. "I mean no disrespect, nii-san. But you have to let it go somehow. You just can't waste your time here all day." sighed Naruto as he tried to tell the same thing again and again to Kakashi.

"I just couldn't forget what had happened, Naruto. I always feel like everything went wrong because of me." replied Kakashi with a sad voice.

"You should just focus on things in the present so as to prevent from making the same mistakes." the blonde suggested. He didn't want to see his brother/sensei in such state all the time. Kakashi needed to get his social life active. Sulking about something you had no control of wouldn't do any good at all.

"I guess so." said the Jounin as he was going through the words of advice from his blonde companion.

"Now come on, let's get going! Or that pinkie will screech at you again. It won't affect only your ears, you know." cheerfully said Naruto as he started to drag Kakashi to their team's meeting point to begin their Genin test.

As both ninja arrived at their destination, they were met with the usual scene of the other two teammates. Sakura was once again asking Sasuke on a date; however, the boy rejected her again and again. She seemed to never give up on her quest though. " _Ugh, what are we goinna do with her"_ the two former ANBU thought at the same time.

"Ohayou, Sasuke, Sakura. Are you ready for the test?" asked Kakashi, getting both of their attention.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screeched at the two arriving people. All the males winced at the loud yell and covered their ears.

"Well, I got lost on the road of life. Thanks to Naruto to get me back on the right track here." posing his signature eye-smiled at his students. His students, except Naruto as he was used to the behavior, sweat dropped at their sensei's worst excuse they ever heard. Turning to their third member to confirm if it was true, Naruto just shrugged. "Anyway, did you guys follow my suggestion to not have breakfast?" the older man's voice turned serious. All the three nodded. Then Kakashi pulled something out of his pockets.

"Now as you can see, there are two bells in my hands. What you have to do today is to get these bells from me by using whatever means possible. You have 2 hours to succeed." He then noticed the confusions on his students' faces as he knew exactly what was on their mind, "Yes, there are only two bells, so that means that there will be only two of you pass this test, while the one who failed will be sent back to the academy and won't be getting any lunch after this test." The looks of his little Genins almost made him laugh. Sakura paled at the idea of being demoted and not able to stay with her Sasuke-kun. While the raven hair boy growled slightly at the result if he somehow failed to get a bell. The masked Jounin was too strong for his level which didn't make his objective any easier. The only one who wasn't affected at his sensei's threat was Naruto. The blonde already knew the real reason behind the test, but he wouldn't say anything just yet. "Now that we're clear with the rules, let's get back to our business. You have until the clock ticks 11am. We can begin in 3…2…1 GO!" As soon as he gave the signal, the three scattered into the forest.

In a bush, the two male team members decided to stick together while their female companion hid in the opposite side of them.

"Hey Sasuke, don't you find this test suspicious?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, we have only heard of a four-man cell, not three. Normally, a team consists of three Genins and one Jounin sensei. So there's no way what Kakashi-sensei told us would work." reasoned Naruto.

Now that he thought about it, Sasuke did found the rule suspicious. "Then what would you suggest we do? We can't just charge in without a plan."

"That's why I think we should work together. I'll fight him up close creating openings for you to throw your fire jutsu at him. That way we might have some chance against him." suggested Naruto, "But first we should find Sakura and tell her about the plan."

"Why her? She would just get in our way." Sasuke never liked people who didn't take their job seriously.

"Though I hate her obsession as much as you do, we still need her to boost in our plan-" Their plan to include the pinkette, however, was crushed after they heard her cry of pain somewhere in the forest. "Just great." both of them face-palmed at their female teammate for getting caught this early. "Well, looks like it's just the two of us then."

Meanwhile, in the middle of the clearing, their target was currently reading his orange book in a relaxed manner, like nothing had happened at all. Just a few seconds ago, he just took down Sakura by casting a simple low rank Genjutsu on her. He was disappointed, to be honest, that the so called 'Kunoichi of the year' would fall for such trick. He had to cut his thought short as there was a yellow blur charging towards him. The speed was fast, but not as fast as his opponent's true speed was. A fist was thrown at his face before he blocked it and attempted a leg sweep, only to be jumped over by the blonde. Naruto did a backwards somersault and sneaked in a kick to Kakashi's chin. However, the masked Jounin saw that coming and jumped back.

An opening was given, then Naruto yelled at his comrade, "Now Sasuke!"

Back on a tree watching the short confrontation, the Uchiha saw the opening as well before answering the call, "I know!". Sasuke went through a set of handseals before releasing his jutsu. **"** **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball technique)!** ".

A decent size fireball shot towards Kakashi. He jumped away as soon as he heard the jutsu was called out. A small crater appeared at the place where he had been seconds ago. He was left no time to spare as Naruto engaged him again with another close combat. Punches and kicks were either dodged or blocked by their opponent respectively. The Jounin was a bit hard pressed as a dozen of Kunai and Shurikens were thrown at him while he was fighting. He had to suppress the blonde while keeping an eye out on when the projectiles would be coming next.

Unfortunately, Naruto slipped on a small rock, which left himself opened for an attack. The attack did came as Naruto was kicked directly on his stomach, which sent him skidding away a few meters before he got back up to his feet, only to barely dodge a powerful looking punch aiming for his face. He rolled to the left, then jumped away immediately to escape five shurikens, courtesy of his sensei. They engaged once again in a fight of fists.

Another fireball came, forcing them to jump back from each other. "Are you alright, Naruto?" Sasuke decided to jump in as he saw the blonde had difficulty to keep up the fast pace.

"I'm fine. We have to double team him to beat him."

"Agree, but I don't have much chakra left. Those two fireballs sucked the hell out of me" replied Sasuke. The two teammates rushed at their opponent, intending to get some advantages over.

Kakashi cursed at the turn of event as the advantage in numbers was on the other side now. He had to double his awareness as Naruto was pulling out punches at his head while Sasuke was sweeping his legs. Kakashi blocked the fist and jumped over the low attack, before throwing Naruto a few feet away to get himself some space. He managed to kick Sasuke in the chin, sent the Uchiha up in the air.

Sasuke flipped back on his feet on the ground before having to roll to his right to escape an ax kick. The raven hair Genin ran through a few hand signs before spitting another fireball towards Kakashi. Kakashi jumped away from the damage right as he sensed a presence behind him. His instinct from combat experience kicked in as he ducked under a kick from Naruto before elbowing the blonde in the stomach, only to be swatted downwards. Both sides jumped away to reposition themselves.

Suddenly, a sound from a bush to their left or right depends on each's perspective caught their attention. Sakura ran out from there and was met with a scene of her teammates and sensei facing each other ready for another round of fight. She took a look at Sasuke, seeing he was on his knees, apparently exhaused from spamming his jutsu, and then ran towards him. "Oh my god, are you alright, Sasuke-kun? Are you hurt?"

This action however gave Kakashi an opportunity, which he took immediately. Kakashi caught Sakura in an arm-lock before using her as a hostage. He pointed a kunai at Sakura and said, "Your teammate is in danger now. What will you do in this situation? Will you leave her to her own demise or forfeit so that she would be let free?"

Naruto and Sasuke cursed inwardly as they knew that their chance of winning were slim now, if not none at all. Their only choice was to forfeit. Sasuke was frustrated because he failed to get his bell. " _Now I have to waster another year because of her."_ While Naruto was disappointed at the thoughtlessness of his female teammate which could ruin the whole mission if they were on one right now. However, he already completed his objective now. He had shown that team seven was able to cooperate with each other even if they still had some trouble with their coordination.

"Alright, we forfeit, sensei." both said, letting out tired sighs at the result.

"Good. Now that the test is over. You all know the result right? You did not manage to get the bells from me. So I only have one word to say…" all three Genin, only two in fact, lowered their head as they were about to accept their fate. "You all pass!" eye-smiled the masked Jounin. Both said Genin snapped their head towards Kakashi, not believing what they just heard.

"Wh-what?! But we failed the test, sensei." asked Sakura, surprised at the news.

"Yes you failed the objective that I set for you guys, but you passed the real test." Still seeing the look of confusion on their faces, Kakashi let Naruto revealed the true reason behind the bell test. "Would you mind enlighten them, Naruto?"

"The true meaning behind this bell test was to see if the team was able to put down their differences and work together to finish their missions. The fact that this test has a 66% failure rate is because those teams weren't able to see the real reason and tried to work individually and failed miserably. That's why their Jounin sensei had to deem them unfit to become ninja." explained Naruto.

"So you know about it all these time, Naruto?" asked Sasuke feeling a little bit left out on such important information.

"Yeah I know it all along. It's just that we need to proof to Kakashi-sensei that we can work together that's why I didn't tell you guys."

Sasuke nodded as he found the answer reasonable. Sakura, on the other hand, was having an emotional conflict. She realized that she was the liability of her team. She was the reason why they failed to take the bells. Both Naruto and Sasuke were working smoothly until she came to ruin everything. A hand on her shoulder got her out of her stupor; she looked up to see her sensei smiling at her.

"It's ok, Sakura. It wasn't entirely your fault. You just have to take your job seriously from now on. You have to train harder and improve if you don't want to feel like a burden to the team. Okay?" Kakashi reassured his female student after seeing her sad look at her action. Turning back to see a smile and a nod from both of her teammate made her relieved that she still had a chance to correct herself. She gave them a grateful smile, then she resolved that she would become stronger to catch up with the boys.

"Alright team, I'm glad that you guys pass the test. I'm sure you must be tired, so for the rest of the afternoon you can do whatever you want. Meet me at the same place at 7am sharp. We will do our first mission as an official team seven. Dismissed." said Kakashi before he puffed into a smoke. The three Genin said their goodbye and then made their way to their own place. Surprisingly, Sakura didn't make any attempt to invite Sasuke for a date today.

* * *

For the past three weeks, team seven had been doing several missions together. However, those missions were not what they had expected. At first, they, mostly Sasuke and Sakura though, were so excited that they could do more awesome things like eliminating bandits etc. Little did they knew, all of the newly formed Genin teams were only allowed to do D-rank missions only. Things like painting walls, walking Inuzuka dogs, weeding fields, cleaning kennels of the Inuzuka compound were what they had done so far. One mission that made them and all the Genin teams had nightmare was the Tora's retrieval mission. The cat was said to be demon-possessed as most teams that got sent out to catch her never came back unharmed. The same goes for our favorite blonde's team. Naruto himself was the victim of Tora's assault when they finally managed to corner her and about to suppress her. Let's just say that day Naruto had additional whisker-like marks on his cheeks and was the laughing stock when they entered the mission department. The Sandaime snickered at his grandson's 'condition' after the mission. These activities went on and on until Kakashi decided that his team was ready to get the taste a C-rank mission. Today team seven was making their way to the mission department to get their daily missions. Opening the door to see the Hokage and several Chuunins were assigning missions to other teams. They now stood in front of their leader.

"Team seven, requesting for another mission, Hokage-sama." Kakashi did the usual protocol.

"Ah yes, Kakashi-kun. Let's see, we have: paint the house of a council member, sorting out clothes shipment for a new store –"

"With all due respect, I want to request a C rank mission for my team, Hokage-sama" said Kakashi surprising the Chuunins in the room, but not so much for the old man.

"Hmm, I figured as much. Sooner or later you'll have to do it anyway. So you deem your team ready for this then?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. My team is ready for a higher responsibility." answered the Jounin.

Iruka though happened to be in the room as well. After hearing the small discussion, he got worried for the three young Genins, "Hokage-sama, you can't do this. They just graduated weeks ago. It is too early for them for such dangerous mission. Please reconsider, sir."

"Iruka-san, the reason I requested a C rank mission is because I know my team's abilities and they had shown me that they are indeed ready for the next step to become real Shinobi." Kakashi backed up his decision. The scarred Chuunin was about to retort when the Hokage waved his hand, a sign to stop the argument.

"What Kakashi said is correct, Iruka-kun. I know you care about these young ones, but they are not your students anymore. They are under Kakashi's tutelage now, which is why he is the one to decide. Moreover, it seems that team seven has completed the required amount of D rank missions of twenty-five. So they have every right to do C rank missions." After his leader reasoned, Iruka knew he couldn't do anything anymore. He just nodded in understanding before the Sandaime went over the mission lists.

Throwing a scroll towards Kakashi, Hiruzen explained the brief detailed of their mission, "This is an escort mission. You are to accompany and protect a bridge builder named Tazuna from any bandits until he finished his construction. Tazuna-san, you can come in now." An old drunk man, wearing a stray hat and holding a sake bottle, entered and looked at the team before him.

"You are telling me that these tadpoles are gonna protect me along the way back to Wave? They looked like they can't even hold their weapons." scoffed the drunk man. The said Genins were annoyed at their client's insult to them. Sakura was about to yell at the man before Kakashi decided to reassure the client.

"I can promise you that these kids are more than capable of protecting you, Tazuna-san. If there are any complications, worry not because I am an elite Jounin. I will be taking charge of the mission." Tazuna just stayed silent after that. "Okay team, this will be a long mission, so go pack for a month long supplies. We are to meet in 1 hour at the gate. Further detail will be explained later on the way." commanded to his Genins. Three 'Hai' were his answer. Team seven bowed at their Hokage before going to prepare for their mission.

 _"I'm sure Kakashi and Naruto will take care of any obstacles, so I can leave the other two to their hands."_ the aged leader sighed in relief.

An hour later, team seven met up at the gate before starting their journey to Wave country. They all walked in silence, with Naruto at the front, Sasuke and Sakura on the side-flanks, and Kakashi bringing up the rear. Sakura then decided to ask Kakashi various questions about their destination. While the three, Tazuna included, were talking, Naruto and Sasuke noticed a small puddle in the middle of the road. " _This is summer and the weather has been pretty dry these days, so how come there is a water puddle here?"_ both had the same thought. They nodded at each other, deciding that it was suspicious that they needed to prepare for anything beforehand. Kakashi noticed the disturbance on his two male students' face, and smiled that they were observant of their surrounding. All the travelers were forced to shut off their thoughts as a chain suddenly enveloped Kakashi. The Jounin were shredded into pieces a second later. The three Genins were shocked at the sudden action.

Sakura paled after seeing her sensei got destroyed quickly, while Sasuke were staring with wide eyes at the scene. Naruto knew this would happened and that a log was the one that got shredded, but he decided not to take any action yet. Tazuna nearly pissed himself after seeing the cruel death. The three young ninja were forced out of their stupor as the two murderers charged at them.

"Sakura, protect the client. Sasuke, you take the left. I'll take the right." Naruto took charge of the situation. His teammates did as he told them.

Sakura pulled out one of her Kunai and stood in front of Tazuna. The murderers suddenly appeared behind the two before trying the same tactic. Two Kunai was thrown and they pinned the chain to a tree, forcing the murderers to pull off the chain from their steel clawed gloves. They turned to see two Genin charging at them.

Sasuke dodged a swipe from a claw of his opponent before sending his kick towards his opponent's jaw. The kick was blocked as another claw came, intended to pierce his heart. He ducked under it and used the momentum of his foe's falling forward to sweep the legs, making the man tripped over. Sasuke turned around to chop the fallen foe in the neck, rendering him unconscious. The raven hair boy turned to look at his comrade, only to see his blonde teammate stood over his unconscious opponent as well. The two boys smirked at each other before a clapping sound echoing through the forest.

Standing on a tree was their sensei, Kakashi, unharmed and gave his cute little students a thumbs-up.

"Kakashi-sensei, you are okay!" Sakura were happy to see the masked man weren't dead.

"Of course, I'm okay. I just want to see how you guys handle this kind of situation and I gotta say you exceed my expectation. Good job!" praised Kakashi at his students' doing. "Hmm it seemed that your description of this mission was false, if the Demon brothers in front of us were anything to go by. Care to explain, Tazuna-san?" sending a stern glare towards the said old man.

Tazuna gulped audibly as he knew the secret was blown now. He sighed before kneeling, surprising the remaining ninja. "Yes, I lied about the mission. But I had my reason to lie. If you haven't known yet, Wave was currently in a poor state. Many of our people's businesses were ruined the greedy corrupted merchant Gatou. Ever since he came into Wave, all of our ports were under his possession which rendered our economy terribly." Tazuna described his country's condition.

"So, you don't have enough money to request for higher rank mission. Still, you should just tell the truth. This mission has rised up to high C or low B rank now. This is not the end though because I suspect that there will be more ninja, if not stronger ones, waiting to kill you. I have the rights to abandon this mission and leave you helpless, you know." Kakashi threatened Tazuna. "But I want to get these three's opinions first." Kakashi looked at the three, waiting for their answer.

"I say we continue on this, sensei. We can't just let many lives are being destroyed by one greedy man without doing something to it. Plus, it won't do good to Konoha's reputation if we abandon our mission like that." Naruto shared his thought on what to do. His teammates agreed with him as well.

"Well then, I guess we are continuing this. But I will expect your full payment after this mission is completed, Tazuna-san." "Yes, I will pay you full price. Thank you for saving us. Thank you, thank you!" The client gratefully thanked the ninja.

"But what about those two, sensei? What are we gonna do with them?" asked Sakura.

"ANBUs will take care of them soon. I already called them over."

* * *

After the little incident, the travelers continued on their path. They crossed the sea by a boat. The boat owner happened to be Tazuna's friend and wanted to help overthrowing Gatou in any way he can. The Konoha-nins were met with the scene of the bridge that their client was building. The bridge was huge and formidable even if it wasn't finished yet, but one could say the bridge wouldn't be destroyed easily. They walked a little more before Naruto suddenly yelled at them to duck down. Kakashi instantly pushed Sakura down while Sasuke did the same to Tazuna.

Likewise, a sword was flying right above them, then got stuck at a tree, leaving quite a big gash on it. They looked up to see a man crouching on the sword. It was a zanbatou as the man's weight didn't seem to affect it. The man's face was covered in bandages. He was shirtless and wore baggy pants with the striped pattern and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers.

"Well well well, if it isn't Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan. What are you and your brats doing with that old man?" the man said amusedly to see his enemies revealing to be actually dangerous.

"Momochi Zabuza, an A-ranked missing-nin of Kirigakure, knowned as the Monster of the hidden mist. I can't believe you've stooped so low to work for a corrupted man like Gatou." said Kakashi as he recognized the foe in front of him.

"I don't care about who my client is, as long as I get my money. Now you should just give the bridge builder to me if you want to avoid confrontation. Wouldn't want your brats to experienced such thing this early in their-" Zabuza stopped his speech to look closer at a certain blonde. He frowned as he now realized that his job was gonna be even harder if the blonde was whom he assumed was. The missing-nin scoffed, "I see you brought back-up as well. Huh, Kakashi? It's my honor to meet two powerful Shinobi in one day at the same place. How are you doing, Konoha no Higitsune?"

* * *

A/N: Naruto's cover has been blown now. What will happen next? Catch it on the next chapter. #peaceout


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sensei owns Naruto, not me. #Sadlife**

 **A/N: Welcome back to Konoha's fire. I give to u, the chapter four! There is and will be a slight difference from the actual Canon's story during the Wave country arc in my story. That's all I can tell you. Enjoy!**

* * *

(Previously on Konoha's fire)

 _-"I don't care about who my client is, as long as I get my money. Now you should just give the bridge builder to me if you want to avoid confrontation. Wouldn't want your brats to experienced such thing this early in their-" Zabuza stopped his speech to look closer at a certain blonde. He frowned as he now realized that his job was gonna be even harder if the blonde was whom he assumed was. "Hoho, I see you brought back-up as well. Ne, Kakashi? It's my honor to meet two powerful Shinobi in one day at the same place. How are you doing, Konoha no Higitsune?"_

* * *

 **Chapter four**

Early in the morning, the Sandaime Hokage just arrived at his office to start his daily routine. He opened the door to see a big pile of paperwork, the nemesis to every Kage of all the ninja villages in the Elemental nations. He sighed as he knew today was gonna be another long day. Taking his seat, he took a paper and read its content. Not a minute later, a figure appeared at the office window's sill. Hiruzen knew too well of this person as he himself was the person's former Jounin sensei. "Good that you're here. Did you find something interesting to report?"

"Yes, it's about a certain ran-away snake. My spy network informed me that Orochimaru's been seen moving around in Rice country. That means the suspicion we have about him founding the new hidden village, Otogakure, is confirmed now. And this leads to how Naruto's identity was listed in the Bingo book. It obviously can't be good. What will you do now, sensei?" said the figure. He had a large strong build and long white mane-like hair, and wore a forehead protector with an 'Oil' symbol. He was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin or the Toad Sage.

Orochimaru's defection had caused a great deal of damage to Konoha, including the loss of one of the famous and powerful Sannin (The legendary three ninjas) and many top secrets of the village that the snake sage knew of. This also left a grievous wound to the Sandaime's heart. The old Hokage saw the potential in him the most among the three students and even once considered Orochimaru as his successor before the true motive of those experiments were discovered.

Hiruzen sighed once again after hearing the news. A past event crept into his mind to remind him of his action on that day. The day that he regretted his decision and would never forgive himself. He's still berating himself for losing to his sentimentality and let his favored student got away from his crime. "The incident with his involvement two years ago had caused enough havoc among the nations. Now this just made it worst. For now, we cannot do anything rashly yet. I want you to continue keeping an eye on him for a bit longer to see what he's planning or we might risk severing our relation with the Rice country if we make any advancement on them. Can you do that, Jiraiya?"

"You are right, sensei. After all, things have gone this bad because of me too. I'm guilty as much as you are, old man. I thought he was redeemable, but it was just a foolish hope I had at that time. I will do what I can." replied Jiraiya while clenching his hands tightly. Orochimaru was his best friend and their rivalry was quite well-known at that time. The toad sage didn't want to believe what his sensei told him until he saw it himself.

"Anyway, how's the brat doing? I heard he had spent a year in the academy." the toad sage tried to lighten up the mood a little bit. Jiraiya was one of those that taught Naruto ninja arts. Even though he had to leave frequently to manage his spy network, he still made some time to visit his blonde godson as much as he could. After all, he wouldn't want his prized apprentice's legacy to fall victim to the fate of an orphan and Jinchuuriki.

"Naruto has been having fun and has just got assigned in a Genin team led by Kakashi. He looks happier, I must say. His dull blue eyes is now slowly being replaced by brighter and full of life ones." Hiruzen spoke with a smile when thinking about the boy.

"Glad to hear that. We all know we don't want another Itachi here. I'm gonna go and see what he's doing."

He's about to leave before Hiruzen spoke. "He's away on a mission with his team currently. They just left yesterday, and they won't be here for another few weeks if it goes smoothly." Sandaime replied.

"Hmm. I'll go and do my research then." Jiraiya giggled perversely while doing some crazy wiggling fingers thing. His sensei just shook his head at the toad sage's old habit. Bad habits die hard.

"It seems you still haven't dropped your habit, Jiraiya. I'm surprised Tsunade's tortures weren't enough for you to stop." said Hiruzen while chuckling, remembering how his students still acted in a childish manner no matter what age they were.

"Oh spare me, old man. You know you like my books too. By the way, the next volume will be out by next week. It's called 'Icha Icha gold edition: A princess and her masked savior" grinned Jiraiya after whispering the last part. _"Note to myself to thank the gaki for the inspiration. He really is the gold mine for my research!"_

The Sandaime's eyebrows twitched as a slight blush crept up on his cheeks after hearing this. Oh he would have the first order of the book.

 _"Who would believe the God of Shinobi also read my Icha Icha series. Oh you closet perverted old man"_ the white haired sage thought after seeing the reaction from his sensei and Hokage. He then took off at the direction of the place where he would be conducting his research, the hotsprings. A sound of perversely giggle echoed throughout the village, alerting all the woman population of a certain white haired man. Another horrible beat down was waiting for him, that's for sure.

* * *

[Meanwhile yesterday in Wave country]

The growing tension between the Konoha ninja and the Kiri missing-nin could be felt after the small conversation. Naruto and Kakashi knew that this wasn't going the way they had expected.

" _What does he mean Kakashi of the Sharingan? And who is that Konoha no Higitsune are you talking about?"_ Sasuke was very confused at the statement by now. He didn't know that his sensei had the fame Sharingan, as he thought he was the only Uchiha left in the village. So how did Kakashi get the eyes? He looked at Naruto to see the stiffened figure of the blonde after hearing the latter name called out.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Naruto tried to deny his foe's claim of his identity.

"Don't play dumb with me. Your name got listed in the Bingo books by the leader of Otogakure. I don't know what you did there, but they have quite a big bounty on your head, kid. Thus, you are the popular target for the missing-nin like me." said Zabuza. Psychological warfare was the ony choice to counter when you were outnumbered during battle. He had to cause instability within the Konoha team, so that he could get an advantage.

Kakashi had to step in to stop the rising controversy, "Enough with the chit-chat. Let's start what we are here for. Team, get in formation!" Luckily, they did as he told as they decided to push the questions to the back of their mind for a later time, but they would demand an explanation.

"Just so you know, I'm specialized in the 'Silenced Killing'. Don't worry though. I will make it quick for you all." said Zabuza before making a set of hand seals, a thick mist began to float in the area. **" Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Hiding in the mist technique)". **Then six water clones were created and started to camouflage themselves in the mist, ready for action. Yes, he's that arrogant to think he could take on two high level Shinobi and win. He's the demon of the Mist after all.

Kakashi suddenly flickered in front of the real Zabuza and used his Kunai to attack the Kiri-nin. Zabuza blocked it with his Zanbatou, the Kubikiriboucho, then tried to push back and kicked Kakashi on the side. Kakashi skidded back a bit before rolling to the right to evade a slash at his head from above. The clash between metals began, as both sides countered each attack with their own choice of weapon. However, the former member of the Seven swordsmen of the mist proved that he was more powerful at the sword fight as he landed a successful hit on Kakashi's chest. The Jounin evaded the blade just in time, but not unharmed as he could see his blood sipped out slowly. It wasn't severe though with his flak jacket lessened the impact. Kakashi received an uppercut at his jaw, sending him flying into the nearby lake. Before he could assess his situation, the water around him started to feel dense. " _Oh shit"_ was his thought as he eventually got caught in a water prison, courtesy of Zabuza.

" **Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu (Water release: Water Prison technique). ** You're in my environment now, Kakashi. This is over." The Kiri-nin boasted at his work, but he forgot about his surroundings.

* * *

As the chakra enhanced mist blocking the sight of all ninja in the area, Naruto used his heightened senses, besides his sight, to find the enemies. Soon, he found four clones and charged at them. He dealt with the water clones rather easily as it each only had a small portion of the strength and chakra of its creator. Naruto pulled out two Kunai and hold them in a reverse grip. He maneuvered in between his adversaries fluidly, blocking, evading and deflecting them with incredible footwork. He ducked under a slash of the giant sword from the first clone and blocked another slash from the second clone. He then swiped the legs of a third clone before his head could get chopped off by a swing of the Kubikiriboucho.

Rising from crouching position, he slid in to elbow the first clone in the gut before slicing the throat of the second clone with his Kunai when it's about to swung its weapon, destroying it immediately. Naruto then pulled an arm of the clone that got knocked the air out off to take the damage for him from a chopping attack, courtesy of the just arriving fourth Zabuza clone. Now with only two foes to dispose, Naruto quickly spun around the fourth clone and kicked it forward, and then parried the attack from the third with one Kunai and impaled it in its gut with another Kunai. He turned back to throw his other Kunai at the fallen clone. All the Zabuza's water clones dispersed back into water one by one by Naruto's assault. Sighing in relief, he then looked up only to see his comrades were struggling against their opponents respectively.

* * *

Sasuke was having a hard time though. He could only see a few feet around him because of the heavy mist. A sound of something cutting through air was heard. His gut told his body to move, forcing Sasuke to duck under a sword just seconds before the attack could land. He then was kicked in the back, sending him fall forward. He had to roll to his side to barely avoid a chop on the ground where he used to lay on a second ago. Getting back on his feet to back flip from another assault of his foe again, he couldn't think of a way to counter it yet.

This was getting frustrating for him as he could not see where the two clones were. This time though he didn't evade in time, receiving a big gash on his left arm. He winced at the pain and fell on one knee. " _No, I cannot die now. I still have many things to accomplish. No! I won't die!"_ Unbeknownst to him, his onyx eyes morphed into crimson red with two tomoes on each one. Then everything happening around him seemed to slow down; he could now see clearly where another attack came from. " _What the- My Sharingan!"_ With his confidence boosted, he began to make use of his new development and fought his enemies. Even if he still didn't see the others' position, Sasuke could still predict the sword's movement at the last moment as he was able to evade the slashes easily with everything in slow motion in his eyes.

* * *

Sakura didn't cope so well either. She was trembling with Tazuna at the pressure and chilling feeling in this mist. They could not know how her team was doing. Sakura could not see, but only heard the sound of clashing metals and water splashing, which did not relieve her one bit.

Naruto tried to sense his teammates' chakra signatures, and then found Sasuke's. The first thing he saw was the beaten and bloodied form of the Uchiha. The boy was panting heavily and barely stood on his feet. His eyes turned back to black now after the fight. Naruto landed next to him before pulling first aid to clean up and cover Sasuke's wound. Then the two of them looked up to see their sensei was caught in a water prison with Zabuza holding the jutsu.

Naruto immediately did six hand seals that ended with Tiger seal and molded his chakra in his stomach before calling out, **" Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire release: Great Fireball Technique)."** A huge fireball flew towards the missing nin, forcing him to either cancel his water prison or get burned into ashes. It was dodged, and got canceled out by the water on the lake.

This, however, helped Kakashi to escape before the said man recovered from his stiff body. He breathed in loudly for oxygen. His blonde comrade flickered on the water surface next to him.

"How are the others?"

"They are fine. Sasuke got cut on his arm, but nothing too serious. I patched it up and let him rest." Naruto explained the outcome of the confrontations.

"Good, help me finish this then." Looking at each other and nodding, both ninja was ready for the final battle.

Zabuza grunted after knowing that his clones were all decimated by the blonde and the other Genin. He thought the clones would give him enough time to deal with Kakashi. "Let's see you stop this!" The swordsman yelled out, going through a long set of hand seals. When he finished, the lake surface shook violently as a giant water dragon rose up from the water and roar loudly. " **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu! (Water release: Water Dragon Bullet technique)" ** The dragon flew towards its target with its yellow eyes glinting brightly.

"I have a plan. Give me fire, Naruto!" commanded Kakashi as he saw the jutsu created.

"Got it!" answered Naruto before he made a Tiger seal and prepared his jutsu. _**" Katon: Karyuudan no**_ ** _Jutsu (Fire release: Fire Dragon Bullet technique)"_** He thought out his fire technique as his mouth was puffed and let out a flame breath.

Kakashi was also preparing his part of the plan as he pulled up his headband and used his Sharingan to revive a jutsu that he had copied. He did the necessary hand seals for it before pushing his palms out and called, **" Fuuton: Kami Oroshi (Wind release: Godly Wind from the mountain)"**.

A vortex of wind blasting out and increasing the intensity of the fire stream, met the water dragon and caused a booming explosion in the middle of the lake. Steam and water splashed out, blocking the scene within the perimeter. Those outside had to raise their hands to block the side effect of both jutsu clashing together. A sound of a thud was heard, and then the mist died down, indicating that its creator had received heavy damage and was forced to end the jutsu. The implication was indeed correct as Zabuza was unconscious, lying face first on the bank of the river with Kakashi and Naruto stood in front of him. He had bruises and second degree burns all over his body, especially his right side. His Kubikiriboucho was on the ground near a tree a few feet away from him.

Underestimating his opponents was his downfall. This was the end of Momochi Zabuza, the demon of the Mist.

However, before any of the two went to check the man's pulse, a masked figure jumped down from the nearby tree and threw multiple senbons at them, forcing them to leap away from the projectiles. The figure then picked up the defeated Zabuza's body with his sword and escaped into the forest.

Naruto was about to follow the ninja, but he was stopped by his sensei's hand holding onto his shoulders. "He's most likely dead anyway. Just let that guy take him. It doesn't concern our mission anymore." said Kakashi before returning back to his two other students and his client, followed by the blonde next to him.

When they got back on the ground, they saw Sakura was tending to Sasuke's wounds, but she didn't have to do much though as Naruto already patched up most of them. She could only let the Uchiha rested his head on her lap. Tazuna was still shaking slightly even after the battle was over.

Seeing this, Kakashi reassured them, "He got away, but we won't be seeing him soon anyway. We should get some rest because we still have to guard the old man until he finished his project. Let's get to your house first, Tazuna-san."

"Yes, my house is only a mile away. This way!" The bridge builder said hurriedly, leading the way. He wanted to go home and see if his daughter and grandson were okay. He was worried that there were any more ninja attacking his family. The Konoha team followed closely after him, with one Naruto's clone piggybacking Sasuke.

* * *

About an hour later, they arrived at the house. It wasn't a big one, just decent for a small family, built on water with a small bridge leading to the front door. The bridge builder knocked the door thrice, hearing footsteps on the floor indicating that the person inside was coming to welcome them. The door was opened up by a woman who had long blue-coloured hair. She wore a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in colour. She also wore a long blue skirt. The moment she saw who were outside the door, she hugged her father, relieved that he arrived safely and was not hurt in anyway.

"Father! You are safe. I'm so glad. I was so worried that there would be mercenaries or ninja trying to harm you." said the daughter, smiling at her father brightly. She looked at those standing behind Tazuna and asked, "Are these guys the ones you to hire to protect you, father?"

"Yes, my dear Tsunami. These guys saved my life. I tell ya, they are super strong. They defeated Momochi Zabuza who was sent by that bastard Gatou." replied Tazuna. Then he started introducing the ninja, "This is Kakashi, the team leader. The blonde boy is Naruto and the one whom he is carrying is Sasuke. And that girl with pink hair, her name is Sakura, I assume."

Tsunami frowned after hearing that powerful shinobi were after her father's head, but her mood was lightened up that these guys here were able to protect her father perfectly. "You have my gratitude, Shinobi-san. I'm sure you guys must be tired. Let's get you some rest. Come in!" she gestured the team to enter her house and settled down.

"Make yourself at home. Dinner will be ready soon." she continued. Team 7 nodded and smiled at her generosity. Naruto's clone put Sasuke down on a sofa in the small living room before dispelling itself. Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura also sat down on their own seat.

After a few minutes of silence in the room, Naruto then noticed that his teammates were eyeing him curiously. Sakura was the first to break the ice.

"Alright spill it! What's with the name that Zabuza guy called you, Naruto. What were you hiding us the whole time?" asked Sakura, backing by Sasuke's nod as both of them heard the conversation back then and were confused at the exchange.

Naruto just sighed at that. " _This is gonna be a long night."_ thought the blonde as he felt the seriousness of the question. "First of all, I'm sorry that I've been hiding you guys my real self. However, I have my reason to do so." he paused a bit to see their reaction. Kakashi just sat idly reading his orange book while also listening to what the youngsters were saying.

"Well?" asked the pink hair.

"I was originally an ANBU. I'd been working as one for three years, doing several dangerous missions with my squads. How I end up in this situation is because of Hokage-sama. The old man wanted me to have a normal shinobi's life like you guys, starting from the bottom and enjoy my childhood as much as I can." said Naruto in a low voice tone.

"He said I was being too serious about my career and neglected my social life. At first, I questioned his intention, but as I came to think of it, I really didn't have any friends of my age. That's when he suggested that I joined the academy and started to get along with you guys. So I decided to retire as an ANBU agent and followed his advice." he paused again to let the information sank in.

"I didn't tell you guys and our friends of my past because I thought I might make you scared and stayed away from me if I let out the truth. I couldn't understand how friendship works at the time." continued the blond ninja sincerely. He looked at the two in front of him and saw the contemplating expression on their faces.

Both Sakura and Sasuke were shocked after hearing Naruto revealed his secret. They were surprised to know that he was in fact a former Anbu agent, let alone being close to the Hokage. Their blond teammate was in fact a powerful shinobi and they had no idea at all. He had been holding back all this time, meaning Sasuke and Sakura and their friends at the academy had only seen a tip of an iceberg of what Naruto was capable to do.

Sasuke was to the first to speak. "So that explained how you managed to pull out those pranks on the monument and other places, especially the one incident involving the ANBU headquarter." stated the Uchiha.

Naruto just nodded at the statement.

Sakura was the next to speak, "So that means you must be really strong, right?!"

"Uh… well I'm not that strong." Naruto just chuckled slightly while rubbing the back of his head.

"So you know how to do all those cool jutsu? Can you teach us those?" asked the pink hair kuniochi with awe and a new light on her teammate.

"Wh-what?" the blond boy was shocked at the question. He wasn't expecting that it would turn out like this. He initially thought that his friends would be angry at him for this. But they just said that he was awesome and wanted him to teach them also. " _For real?!"_

"Well, I wouldn't mind to spar with a powerful ninja. In order for me to beat that 'guy', I have to get strong, so having a strong training buddy will help a lot." Sasuke said, shrugging his shoulders and seeing nothing too bad about this revelation.

 _"Even duck-ass boy too?! That was so out of character!"_ Naruto was dumbstruck at this and happy at the same time that his friends were not bothered with his past whatsoever. He grinned at hearing this, "Thanks guys! For not being mad at me."

Before they could continue on their conversation, Tsunami came back into the living room delivering dinner for tonight. Sakura stood up and helped her setting the table. All of them then slid in their seat at the table and began digging in their meal. A few minute later, a young boy wearing an oversized blue and white stripped hat came down the stairs and joined in the gathering. He stayed silent for a while, listening to the brief conversing between the occupants. They sounded so happy, talking and laughing about their funny experiences. He couldn't take it anymore. _"How can these guys be so happy when they are about to die?!"_ thought the boy.

A slam on the dinner table ceased the conversation silenced the room. That boy stood up and yelled at the ninja. "What are you so happy about?! You all are gonna die soon. No one can defeat Gatou!"

"Inari!" said Tsunami, surprised at her son's outburst. "Why are you saying that to them? They saved your grandpa's life."

"I don't care! They should just leave if they value their lives." yelled back at his mom. Tear began to fall lightly on his cheeks.

Then another slam was heard by all. " _Oh my table." sweatdropped Tazuna._

Throughout his career as an ANBU, he had gone through various situations during missions. He had seen bloodshed, had experienced his first kill and had come across life and death situation multiple times. However, there was one thing that he could not tolerate, which was cowardice. A person who easily gave up just because he/she faces obstacles was a coward in his book. Thus, after hearing these words from the young boy, Naruto shook his head and glared sternly at Inari. "You are such a coward."

"What did you say?!" Inari asked shockingly.

"You heard me! You are a coward! Your grandpa is risking his life to save yours and all the people's lives in this country. He wants you to have a better future; yet you are here, yelling at us who are guarding him to leave and let him die by Gatou's hands. I've never seen someone as pessimistic as you." scolded Naruto at Inari.

The boy was fuming and tearing up even more. He ran back upstairs and into his room. Tsunami saw this and sobbed at her son's behavior. She looked back at the ninja team with an apologizing expression, and then followed after her son to console him.

"With all due respect Tazuna-san, but that boy is being ungrateful to you." Naruto said before walking out the house as well. He stopped at the door and spoke at his team. "I'm getting some fresh air. Have a lot of things going on in my mind."

The old man just sighed at this and looked down at his cup of water. He was sad that his grandson had changed so much after that incident three years ago. The boy used to be so bright and energetic. Now he was always brooding and never laughed like before. That tragedy really did a number on the poor boy.

Kakashi nodded at his blond brother before turning to the bridge builder beside him. "So … can you tell us about what has made him that way?"

Tazuna sighed again. He then began to retell a certain event, centered around a hero who once lived in Wave country. "There was a man named Kaiza. He was a travelling fisherman, coming to the land of Waves to seek new opportunity. One day, he came across Inari drowning and was able to save him…"

* * *

Back to our favorite blond, Naruto walked into a nearby forest while sighing at himself that he let slip his emotion during Inari's outburst. A mission that was transitioned from a normal C-rank to high B-rank, added with the confirmation of his revealed identity clouded his mind. He wasn't sure whether to continue hiding or just break the wall of truth.

He sat down on a small clearing, with a full sight of the moonlight at night. A peaceful silence with constant chirping sound of crickets and cool breeze brushing on his face somehow eased up his stress. The full moon, shining brightly high up in the night sky, reminded him of a girl he met two years ago. A round face, short black hair and alluring pupil-less pink eyes. He didn't know why the image of her always popped up in his mind, he just could never forget that. Not before long, he eventually succumbed to his exhaustion and a comfort provided by the place he was currently occupying, he then fell asleep after a long day of journey and combat.

 _ **To be continued…**_


End file.
